


Monomyths and Macchiato

by VorpalGirl



Series: Monomyths and Macchiato [1]
Category: Compilation of Final Fantasy VII, Crisis Core: Final Fantasy VII, Final Fantasy VII
Genre: ADHD Character, Alternate Universe, Alternate Universe - Modern Setting, Bad dates, Blind Date, Co-workers, Dating, Failed Attempt At Revenge, First Dates, Geek Love, Humor, M/M, Matchmaking, Passive-aggression, Romance, Roommates, bookworms, panromantic character
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2015-10-06
Updated: 2016-04-15
Packaged: 2018-04-25 02:13:57
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 3
Words: 5,373
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/4942780
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/VorpalGirl/pseuds/VorpalGirl
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Sephiroth is sick of Genesis setting him up on dates that inevitably go sour, and decides to give the man a taste of his own medicine by deliberately setting him up with someone utterly incompatible. Little does he realize how spectacularly it’s going to backfire.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> I’ve been toying with this for a while, particularly after discussing (with people such as up-sideand-down and tekka-wekka and others over on tumblr), the possibility of a Zack Fair who actually reads quite a lot of fiction. And after talking some of it out with Tekka and Tobiroth, I was heavily encouraged to Write the Damn Thing Already. So, I began work on it, and...here we are. It's gotten a pretty good reception over on tumblr so I figured, why not start sharing it here, as well? Hope you guys enjoy it!

After yet another miserable yet mandatory movie date, Sephiroth decided he had to take some sort of revenge on Genesis.  
  
Sephiroth was quite content to avoid dating altogether, and had better things to do than waste time “getting to know” people who inevitably had little in common with him. Yet when he had admitted to his roommate a few months ago that yes, he thought he might like to date a man more than he would a woman, the redhead had seemed to take that as an invitation, nay, a  _challenge_ , to set him up with every remotely attractive man he knew in an effort to match-make. The problem being, that while he certainly considered Genesis a friend by now, their tastes ran entirely different.   
  
This gentleman, though certainly handsome, had been been a total snob about the choice of movie; it had been a period piece, and he had not only nitpicked the set dressing, but done so in a way so as to brag about how  _he_  could have done it better and _he_  knew more about historical art and architecture than the filmmakers had. Sephiroth found it incredibly tiresome, and also incredibly transparent. While he could forgive Genesis for his intellectual pride, and could just  _see_  these two men having a jolly time criticizing things together, Sephiroth had his limits as to how much condescending braggery he could take from someone he didn’t even know. 

It was getting to be quite irritating, really, to be constantly set up with “gorgeous, brilliant” men who were…usually at least the first thing, granted, but mostly just annoying. Genesis had some redeeming qualities as a friend and roommate – a quick wit, a sympathetic shoulder, excellent cooking skills and a fastidious sense of cleanliness and orderliness that matched well with Sephiroth’s own – but his friends were just not the kind of people Sephiroth enjoyed being around. Which was hard to get Genesis to comprehend, without insulting his taste in people.

But as much as he enjoyed his interactions with Mr. Hewley, Sephiroth was sick of wasting money on flowers for people he inevitably never wanted to see again. Something had to be done. Something subtle, that didn’t require outright telling Genesis “the people you keep picking don’t match my personality”. Something that…that taught him a  _lesson_ , about trying to fix people up without consulting them on what they wanted in a romantic partner, and without regard to their own preferences.  
  
Hm. Maybe, Sephiroth thought, he should get a taste of his own medicine.

****

**  
** It took a few days to find the perfect person to inflict on his busybody roommate. After all, he had to be careful in his selection.  
  
It had to be someone who would be utterly incompatible with the man, yes. But for The Plan to work, it  _also_  had to be someone who wouldn’t  _seem_  incompatible – or at least, who would seem like he might plausibly be an enjoyable date – at first blush.  
  
****Which meant that they had to have traits or – especially – _tastes_ , that Genesis would find unpleasant or obnoxious…but also be charming, handsome, _and_  single. A surprisingly tall order, it seemed, as the last three elements were already rare enough in combination. Add in “must be open to dating a man” and you were already narrowing it down quite a bit.   
  
However, that following Monday, the perfect candidate presented himself. Very vocally.  
  
“Delivery for a Silver-Haired Stud!” came the cheerful, loud voice of the office Mail Boy, who was grinning at him cheekily from the doorway.   
  
Zack Fair.   
  
Zack Fair, he realized, was fucking  _perfect_  for The Plan.

Physically attractive? Oh yes. Sephiroth would totally tap that, as would any of the ladies in the office and more men than would admit it; he had the kind of pretty, perfectly symmetrical face that seems impossible until you see it up close and then is impossible to look away from. Glossy black hair that stuck up all over in playful spikes that _should_ have seemed either messy, or childish, or possibly just ridiculous, but somehow weren’t any of those things. A pair of striking eyes that looked purple in some lights, blue in others, but beautiful in all of them.  And probably the single most aesthetically pleasing cheek scar Sephiroth had ever seen in his life – a tiny, faint, offset x-shape that Zack had given at least three different increasingly wild explanations for.

Handsome?  _Check._

As for charisma, Zack Fair had it in spades; hell, probably had it in hearts, clubs and diamonds, too. The million-watt grin he was shooting at him right then could light up a room, and as could probably be guessed from his greeting, he had a tendency to flirt with anything that moved…yet somehow, he never came across as actually creepy about it.  
  
Charming?  _Check_.

And as for single…  
  
Well, Zack never shut up. About anything, really. So Sephiroth was well aware that the young man was constantly crushing on one person or another…but also not  _currently_ seeing anyone.  
  
And also well aware that Zack was, in his own words, “Panromantic – emphasis on both parts!”  
  
Though Genesis had a strong preference of his own, Sephiroth knew he was not bi-phobic in the least; in fact, Sephiroth had been grateful that Genesis had been every bit as appalled as _he_  had been, when one of the dates he’d set him up with had been rather judgmental about Sephiroth’s own open-mindedness in terms of partners. So he knew that Zack not being purely homosexual wouldn’t make him unattractive to Genesis at all, _and_  he was an orientation that might lead him to accept a date with Genesis in the first –

“Hell-llooo? Earth to Seph,” the brunet said perkily, waving his hand in front of Sephiroth’s face and very nearly destroying his train of thought.    
  
_Seph._ He always did that, too: gave cutesy nicknames to people. Genesis  _hated_ having his name shortened (owing to the fact it sounded like it was short for “Jennifer”), but Zack would inevitably do it, like he did with anyone else who had a name over two syllables long.

Hmm. And then there were Zack’s  _tastes_ , and certain tiny little habits…  
  
“Sorry,” Sephiroth said. “I was lost in thought. Did you get to see that movie you wanted to over the weekend?” 

“Yeah!” Zack said, brightening again. “It was awesome!”  
  
Genesis hated hearing words used “incorrectly”…like  _awesome_  used to describe anything other than the actual awe-inspiring.   
  
“What was it called again?” 

“Oh, it was that new  _Mad Max_  movie!” he gushed. “ _Fury Road_! You should see it some time, it’s really great! Like, I’m not even kidding, I forgot I was even watching a movie, they really get you into the action! You really feel like you’re actually there – you know the stunts were all done with real people and real props and vehicles!? Like, practically no CGI at all! It’s so  _cool_!”   
  
A fan of car crash filled action movies. Who used words like “awesome” in the slang sense, liked to shorten names, and was a complete fucking  _chatterbox_. 

Plus, Sephiroth had seen him doing actual  _squats_ during his breaks. A  _jock_ , to boot! And Sephiroth knew darn well that half the reason that Zack was working there, was because he needed a job to pay bills while he was in college…for a two-year General Associate’s degree that he’d been pursuing for at _least_  four years. He had never settled on a major, at one point had said he “might never” be able to do so and might “settle” for an AA, and was only doing it at all because his parents had insisted he go to college and it was an excuse to get out of his “backwater” hometown. 

Compare that to Genesis, who had done Advanced Placement and dual-enrollment classes in high school and earned the bulk of his basic college credit requirements before he’d even turned 18, then successfully pursued a Master’s and was currently working on his PhD…yeah, he couldn’t see their lifestyles or ambitions matching up at _all_. 

But the man was, as Genesis would surely put it, “gorgeous”. And charming. And  _single_. And swung that way.

He smiled, and tapped Zack’s arm to get his attention – he was still in the midst of expressing his glee at that movie – and asked:  
  
“Zack…how do you feel about blind dates?”


	2. Chapter 2

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The coffee date begins! And unbeknownst to him, Sephiroth's plan slowly starts to fall apart.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I just want to thank the hell out of Tobiroth (aka Tobirion over on ffnet and Modeoheim on Tumblr). She encouraged me to write today AND picked this one, when I was feeling listless and wasn't sure I felt like doing anything. Instead of doing nothing though, thanks to her I actually wrote and edited the BULK of this chapter in pretty much one sitting. :) So, thank you, Tobae <3

 

Zack, it turned out, was “totally cool with” blind dates –  if anything, he lit up at the possibility of being set up with someone new.

Sephiroth felt a pang of guilt at that, but consoled himself with the fact that in his experience most blind dates were terrible and that even an optimist should know  _that_.

“His name is Genesis,” he told him. “He’s my roommate, actually. He works at the University up the road. Do you like redheads?”  
  
“Sure!” Zack said. “Heck, it’s what’s inside that counts anyway, right?” Though, despite that, he then apparently couldn’t help but ask: “Is he cute? How old is he?”  
  
“He is exceptionally attractive,” Sephiroth said, and felt no guilt on that one, because that much was true. “And he’s young – early twenties. Not much older than you, I believe.”  
  
“Is he free on Friday?”  
  
Well, this was going better than expected.

“I’ll check,” he replied. 

***

Genesis was in the middle of grading papers when the text came through asking if he was “doing anything Friday night”. As it came from Sephiroth, he raised an eyebrow and then couldn’t help but respond:  
  
_Not really. Grading papers at this rate. Why?_

It was a few minutes before he received a reply back, and its contents somewhat surprised him.  
  
_There is someone I know who might like to take you out on a date that night, if you are amenable._

“Huh,” he murmured. “This is new.” Still, it was rather pleasing to be thought of like that. Perhaps Sephiroth simply wanted to return the favor for a change.  
  
_Handsome?_   he asked.   
  
_Very._  
  
– was the first reply; and then, a minute later:   
  
_Like a Greek statue come to life. You should see his smile._

Eyebrows shot up,  _way_  up, before he rapidly texted back:  _And you didn’t call dibs?? I’m touched._

 _I do occasionally think of you_ , came the carefully-worded reply.

***

The date had been arranged for that Friday evening, at Genesis’ favorite cafe. Dress code: casual. Time: 6:30 pm.

Sephiroth was looking forward to it.  
  
Genesis spent almost an hour fussing over his wardrobe and hair that evening; it would have been only  _half_ an hour, except Sephiroth having mistakenly told him he looked “fine” prompted a fit of insecurity that he didn’t look as gorgeous as humanly possible. So, much tweaking and fussing and adjustment was done, before he came back out again and asked:  “How do I look  _now_?”   
  
Sephiroth’s lips quirked at the edge.  
  
“Fine,” he said. And then, before Genesis could become truly indignant: “As hell. Now  _go_. You’re going to be late for your date.”  
  
Genesis snorted, but smirked –  _fine as hell_? Mission accomplished. “All right then. Don’t wait up!” he teased, grabbing his keys.   
  
“Oh, I won’t,” Sephiroth assured him. He held the true smirk in until after Genesis had left. “Won’t need to,” he chuckled to himself.

***

Genesis had in fact not been late, but rather managed to get there ten minutes  _early_ , grabbed a table with a view of the door, a coffee, and a pastry which shouldn’t shed too many crumbs, and arranged himself to look as devastatingly-perfect-yet-carelessly-casual as possible with his leatherbound book – having agreed, upon receiving Zack’s selfie, that he was indeed Hot As Hell, he wanted to make an Impression.  
  
That desire eventually waned, then was given up on, by the time Zack showed up…over twenty minutes late. Both the pastry and the drink were long gone, because as much as Genesis liked the idea of being able to take carefully-timed sips during a conversation, he liked the idea of his espresso-based drink going cold a lot less. He had just texted Sephiroth, in fact, to tell him he was wondering if he had been stood up, when he spotted the man coming in.

To his credit, though, the late half of the party looked exceptionally chagrined. “Genesis?” he said, with a dose of shyness to his posture, arms behind him.   
  
“Yes,” Genesis said, trying to keep his irritation in check – he had no idea  _why_  his date had been late yet, after all. “You must be Zack, yes? You look like the photo, at least.”  
  
“Yeah,”  Zack said, relaxing a little and smiling. “You look even  _better_  than yours, though,” he said.  
  
Genesis smiled smugly. Well, at least the man knew how to smooth things over. And had good taste. Still, couldn’t let him get away with it  _that_  easily. So he pouted a little.  
  
“You’re late,” he pointed out. “By almost half an hour.”  
  
Zack looked truly regretful at that. “Yeah, I’m sorry…I was in the middle of something and lost track of time and even though I had a phone alarm set for it, I forgot to charge it, so…it kinda didn’t go off, heh.”  He rubbed the back of his neck and the rueful smile he shot him was just cute enough to almost forgive him. Clinched, when he took his other arm out from behind his back and shyly presented Genesis with a perfect, crimson rose. “Here, though. For you? If it’s not too weird…”  
  
Genesis hadn’t meant to let it go that easily, but he was a Romantic with a capital R, and the gesture was one none of his previous paramours had attempted on a first date. He was Charmed, with a capital C.   
  
He accepted the rose graciously, and brought it to his face to feel the silky petals. He then registered where it was from.  
  
“Oh!” he said, delighted. “You got this from  _Hewley’s_?”   
  
Zack blinked in surprise. “Yeah, actually. It’s where I get all my flowers. You know the place?”  
  
“My friend runs it!” he replied.

“Whaaaat?” Zack said, apparently equally delighted. He sat down eagerly across from him, their previous awkwardness apparently forgotten.  “No way! You know Angeal? How?”  
  
“Oh yes,” Genesis said. “We go way back. Grew up in the same town, actually. How do you know him?”  
  
“Well, I buy a lot of flowers,” Zack said, rubbing the back of his neck again. Genesis decided it was a cute gesture. “And he has the best ones for the best price, you know? And he’s really nice…”  
  
“Indeed,” Genesis said, fingering the rose thoughtfully. “Do you mind if I ask what you were in the middle of, that you lost track of time?” He had been planning on asking that either way, but it came out now as simply curious rather than  annoyed.   
  
“Oh,” Zack said, ducking his head a little. “It’s…kinda embarrassing, but…” he eyed the hardback of _LOVELESS_ in front of them. “Well…you ever get lost in a  _really good_ book and just kinda…lose track of the real world for a little bit?”  
  
He smiled. Ah, a  _bookworm_.  To Genesis’ mind that was, in fact, one of the few valid excuses to be late anywhere. “Ahh, yes. I know that feeling well…” he said. He tapped his chin. “If you want to make it up to me though, for being late,” he started, which was a lie, because the rose had already made up for that. “You can buy me a second drink – I finished this one waiting for you.” He waved the empty cup meaningfully.   
  
Zack brightened. “Sure! What’s your preference?”  
  
“Caramel macchiato, please.”  
  
“Ah! No way! That’s one of my favorite drinks!” Zack said happily. “That’s so eerie!”  
  
“Sephiroth always tells me it’s got too much espresso to be bearable,” he said.   
  
Zack…sort of giggled, almost, and it was kind of adorable. “No wonder!” he said. “Seph uses like half a cow’s worth of milk and two pounds of sugar in his coffee. The way he takes it, espresso probably tastes like battery acid to him.”  
  
Genesis couldn’t help but give a rather ungraceful snort-laugh at that. It was the perfect description. “That is so true!” he said. “You have no idea how much sugar we go through. I make him buy it, because I refuse to feed his sweet tooth more than I do mine.”  
  
Zack grinned. “I don’t blame you! Oh, speaking of sweets – you want a pastry or something too, while I’m up there?”   
  
“Hm, that cookie was pretty good,” he admitted. “Sure – chocolate chip.”  
  
“Got it!” said Zack, cheerfully bounding off towards the register like he’d been given a mission. 

***

Sephiroth had been surprised, when Genesis had texted him that he was concerned he’d been stood up. Until he realized that Zack – frequently late to work or coming back from breaks – had probably managed to be late to their very first date. Then he smirked. It Had Begun, he decided.  
  
He was therefore puzzled when, a couple of minutes later, he received another text from his roommate reading:  
  
_He’s here now and he’s ADORABLE. I think I might keep him. ;)_  
  
“Hm,” he said, frowning to himself. Interesting. Apparently being severely late hadn’t pissed Genesis off as much as it normally would. Still. They were  _utterly_  incompatible, he reminded himself. Part of the point behind choosing Zack for this was that he  _was_  charming, but of course, utterly incompatible. Utterly.  
  
The plan was  _surely_  still on track, he decided, and set the phone aside.

 


	3. Chapter 3

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> As the coffee date continues, chatterbox Zack proves not nearly as off-putting to Genesis as Sephiroth had hoped. In fact, quite the opposite...

Zack returned with two identical orders of coffee and cookie, just as he was closing his phone.  
  
“Here you go, Beautiful,” Zack said, and the enthusiasm behind the word was so palpable it made Genesis smile.  
  
To which he playfully replied: “Thanks, Handsome.” Which prompted Zack to smile back again — and boy, Sephiroth had _not_ been kidding about that smile — as he plopped into the chair opposite him.  
  
“So,” Genesis began. “What were you reading, that you got so caught up in it?” He was always up for a good book, after all, and it seemed as good a topic as any.

“Oh!” Zack said, still having the decency to look a bit embarrassed by his lateness, even as he perked up at the topic. “You ever read Neal Stephenson’s _Snow Crash_?”

“Hm...can’t say that I have; what’s the genre?” Couldn’t be literary fiction, surely — he was up on most of those authors, or at least he thought as much?  
  
“Hm,” Zack said. “It’s....actually kinda hard to classify, really. But definitely somewhere in the realm of science fiction? They usually label it something like, ‘Cyberpunk Thriller’, I think, though — what’s with that face?” He broke off, one eyebrow raised.

“Ah,” Genesis replied, trying not to sound too disappointed. “Sci-fi’s not really my thing, is all…”  
  
Zack tilted his head. “Why not?”  
  
He shrugged, feeling slightly uncomfortable at the turn in conversation. “I’m just not really one for...that kind of thing.”  
  
To his surprise, rather than appear say, awkward, or disappointed, Zack looked...mischievous? That was the only way he could think to describe it.  
  
His own eyes narrowed. “What?” he said.  
  
Zack’s lips formed a thoughtful frown, but his eyes held a peculiar spark. He leaned forward, arms resting on the table. “You like literary fic though?” he said. “Poetry? You were reading _LOVELESS_ , I notice.” He nodded towards the book that still sat between them on the table.  
  
Genesis raise an eyebrow himself at that. Was a pulp sci-fi reader really challenging him on his taste in prose? “Yes,” he replied. “It’s one of my favorites. What of it?”  
  
Zack’s forced frown morphed to a playful sort of smirk, his eyes still holding that same spark even as he gave him a speculative gaze. “What do you like about it, then? About books like _LOVELESS_ , that is?”  
  
Genesis straightened in his chair, making a show of sipping slowly from his drink before replying, even as he held that challenging gaze.  
  
“The _prosody_ ,” he finally stated. “The beauty and rhythm of its prose. As well, of course, as the epic journey of its protagonists — _what_ ?” he said, flummoxed by Zack’s sudden chuckle.  
  
“Oh, nothing,” Zack said, in the sort of playful tone that promised the opposite. “Just that both of those things are qualities _Snow Crash_ has, too.”

Genesis’ eyebrows were getting a workout tonight. “Oh?”  
  
“Mmhm,” Zack nodded. “The plot is...well,” he grinned. “Hard to summarize without at least _sounding_ ridiculous. ‘Cause...it kind of _is_ , objectively. But is also manages to be a sweeping epic that encompasses _all of known history_ , blending:” And here Zack started ticking off fingers. “Computer science, memetics, linguistics, _Mesopotamian archaeology_ of all things, and theoretical neurology — all without ever _quite_ losing its deadpan satire about both modern life, and human nature in general. And as for _prosody_ ,” he added, leaning further in as if ready to tell him a secret. “The thing reads like what I can only describe as ‘ _noir poetry_ ’. Which even when describing a _pizza delivery_ ,” he said. “Manages to be taut, evocative prose, with a unique rhythm unlike any other book I’ve read.” He leaned back again, not quite _smug_ exactly, but satisfied.

“Huh,” Genesis blinked. “Sounds...intriguing.”  
  
He wasn’t sure he was interested in ‘epic plots based on computer science’, but poetic prose peaked his interest, and the other stuff…  
  
“Mesopotamian _archaeology_ ?”  
  
Zack practically _giggled_ at that — which was honestly putting Genesis back in mind of his initial assessment of _“_ adorable” — and said: “You’d have to read it to believe it, but yeah. It’s kinda crazy. But I’ve always forgiven it the weirdness, because of the prose.”  
  
“Hmm...and ‘memetics’? What’s that mean? I feel like I’ve heard the word before…”   
  
“Ah! You might’ve!” Zack said. He brightened — before going onto a subject that Sephiroth, unbeknownst to Genesis, would have been even more flabbergasted to hear from him on than prose: “Richard Dawkins proposed the term, back in...I think the eighties? Not sure when _The Selfish Gene_ was actually published. Anyway, it’s kinda like the cultural version of ‘genetics’ — basically, you know how we all have ‘genes’, which are little packets of biological data that gets passed from one generation to the next?”  
  
“Of course,” said Genesis, because while he might not have _majored_ in Bio, he had certainly passed it.  
  
“Well, he suggested we consider that there’s kind of an equivalent in culture,” Zack said. “Little units, as it were, of cultural…” He made vague grasping gestures with his hands, as if he were trying to literally grab onto whatever word was on the tip of his tongue — though “ _...stuff_ ,” was he ended up going with. “Things that get passed from person to person — songs, stories, writing systems —  heck, languages themselves! Even basic tool use, if you wanna go far back enough — chimps in the wild’ve been spotted using spears, _after_ watching local fishermen use them for example — though that was way after the book was published. But yeah, all the stuff that makes up not our chemical biology, but you know...our _culture_ . It’s not encoded in our DNA, but it’s still real and it’s still in little units that go from person to person, you know? And he called those ‘memes’, to go along with ‘genes’. He took it from the root word for ‘memory’, because, well...”  
  
“Things that are remembered,” Genesis said, nodding. “I could see that.” He smiled. “You’re clearly well-read.”  
  
“Ah…” Zack looked down, almost shyly —  but even as he rubbed the back of his neck, he was smiling. “I get...you know, bored? I hate not having anything to do, and I get really kinda...mentally restless, so sometimes a book is the best thing to keep me occupied, you know?”    
  
“Ah,” Genesis said, and it was him that leaned in this time, propping his chin on one hand. “That I can certainly understand.”  
  
Zack seemed oddly relieved to hear that. “Really?”  
  
“Mmhm,” Genesis said, taking one of Zack’s hands in his free one. “I grew up out in the country, so there wasn’t much else to do but read — or write, perhaps.”  
  
“Oh man,” Zack groaned, gladly accepting the proffered hand and giving a light, sympathetic squeeze. “You poor thing! I’d have gone nuts! Did you at least have access to a decent library?”  
  
“Yes,” he replied, smiling fondly at the memory. “My family was well enough off that we had an excellent private collection, and travel to the local public library branch wasn’t terribly onerous. Mind you, I’m still glad I moved here, even if it was difficult at first to adjust. Our old library was decent but it couldn’t hold a candle to the ones in the city — and while the inter-library loan system works well enough, I like to _browse_ , you know? To hold a book in my hands, to discover them by serendipity. You can’t get that through a card catalog, even the electronic ones.”  
  
Zack grinned. “Yeah...I gotta admit, that was one of the things I loved most when I first got here! The library back home...well, it was a library?” he laughed. “But it was just...like, _abysmal_ , compared to the ones here. I’m with you: I like to wander the stacks. Like, pick a section and just skim around and find the most random, interesting books they have. I’ve found some cool ones here, too! Especially in the non-fiction and graphic novel sections.”

“Graphic novels...is that like...comic books?”  
  
Zack, eyes sparkling in amusement, said: “You look like you want to scrunch your nose at that.”  
  
“Well,” Genesis admitted. “I’m more of a prose person.”  
  
“Aw man, though, there’s some really good ones! Depending on the piece, some of them have gorgeous art, and some amazing stories.”  
  
“Really?” Genesis snorted.  
  
“What?” Zack raised another challenging eyebrow. “You don’t believe me?”  
  
“I apologize,” Genesis said with a small smile. “I’m sure you’re right, and I look forward to your recommendations, but the most famous are those — ” he waved his free hand dismissively. “Superhero stories, you know? Shallow stuff.”  
  
Zack’s eyebrows shot up, promptly followed by that same twinkle in his eye and that same smirk…  
  
“Shallow, huh? Well, first off: you’re right. I know a lot of non-superhero titles, kinda ‘indie’ style stuff, that is really smart and cool. Like...as a literary kinda guy, I bet you’d like _The Unwritten_ , for one; that one’s a great big meta-text on our relationship with and _need_ for literature and stories, it references a lot of classic fiction out of the Literary Canon, and it’s got beautiful visuals on top of it. But what makes you think superhero stories are automatically _shallow_?”

“That does sound interesting,” Genesis admitted. “But how could —things with, I don’t know, men from Krypton and people with doomsday lasers— compare with something of that kind of...universal theme?”  
  
Zack, to his surprise, burst out laughing. “Omigods, did you — sorry! Sorry. No, you just hit on exactly what I was gonna bring up though: have you heard of Joseph Campbell’s work?”  
  
“The...name sounds familiar,” Genesis said. Covering for the fact that he was not _entirely_ sure who the hell Zack was talking about, he added: “What does that have to do with superheroes?”  
  
“Everything,” Zack chirped. “Campbell’s most famous theory was that of ‘The Hero with a Thousand Faces’; he argued that since ancient times, certain _classic_ stories have just gotten told over and over again — the bones of the plot and character arcs mostly staying the same — because they _resonate_ with people, across time and cultures. _Including_ modern science fiction and fantasy and adventure heroes. Basically, we’ve never gotten sick of the same myths, we just hit refresh on them in each new generation and the most popular versions are the ones that are the most universal. _In fact_ …”  
  
He was still holding Genesis’ hand, but with his free one, he rummaged in his pocket and brought out his phone, tapping something out on it. “Lemme just check to make sure I got the guy’s name right, but...there was a guy who actually wrote a literal textbook on how to interpret comics with the lens of not just popular culture, but established history, mythology and religion…” A pause, while he skimmed the search page. “Ugh, I’m not finding him! Too many other results — heh, which should tell you something, yeah? Anyway, though,” he set his phone down, abandoning his search and looking back up at him. “You wanna know what he pointed out? Superman’s story mirrors that of Moses.”  
  
“You’re joking.” _This_ he had to hear.  
  
“Nope! Think about it: an infant boy is set adrift to save him from death, and then found and raised by adoptive parents of another race. He turns out to have unusual abilities, and later comes to be a savior of the people.” Zack grinned at him. “He put it a lot more eloquently and had more points, but, there you go. And it was deliberate, mind — Superman’s creators, Siegal and Shuster, were both Jewish. In fact, when Superman started out, he was supposed to be the ‘hero of the common man’, and before he ever took swings at mad scientists or — space aliens or monsters, he was taking on corrupt landlords and stuff in a proxy for New York City; Siegal and Shuster’s hometown. And Batman?” Zack added, leaning in again. “Inspired largely by Zorro, who was in turn, inspired by _The Scarlet Pimpernel_ . Wonder Woman? _Literally_ supposed to be an Amazon out of Greek myth, with her mother being Hippolyta and a lot of her runs being influenced by Greco-Roman mythology. Superman and Wonder Woman are modern versions of demigods — sometimes literally, in Wondy’s case, depends on the writer — and Bruce Wayne is the modern iteration of a masked vigilante, taking on the criminals and rogues the system is too corrupt to bother with. His entire backstory is him finding productive ways to deal with the trauma caused by his parents’ murder, meaning that even before you get into the weird psychological quirks of his rogues’ gallery, you often get some serious emotional depth. He _also_ was very deliberately written, usually, to ensure he glorified education, intelligence and — I’m sorry, am I getting too into this stuff? I know I ramble a lot and go off on all sorts of tangents when I get on certain subjects —”  
  
“No, not at all!” Genesis said, leaning in as well. “This is...much more interesting than I would have expected.” He tilted his head, thinking about it for a moment.  “I haven’t really given it much consideration, before. I hadn’t realized there were so many other influences or...thought, put into such things.”

Zack seemed to be relieved that he wasn’t actually boring his date. “Ah, good. And yeah,” he said, and chuckled. “I could go on for ages about the influences on them. And about how the Silver Age comics formed a science-influenced mythology to reflect the post-nuclear world, how later stuff explored the increasing cynicism people had towards people in power, and managed to deal with major issues like drug abuse and grief, even while dealing with some really oppressive censorship from people who wanted to kid-safe the whole medium...I _should_ probably give it a break though, if only because I’d like us both to finish our drinks while they’re still hot.”  
  
“Mine _is_ getting a bit lukewarm,” Genesis said, smirking, and leaning back to take a sip. “Though that’s a compliment, of course; if your company were truly boring, I’d have remembered to drink more of it sooner.”

“I feel like I should let _you_ talk for a while though,” Zack chuckled. “I’ve been _way_ chattier.”  
  
“Mm. You’ve got interesting things to say, though. That makes up for it,” he replied, taking another sip. He met his eye over the cup and winked.  
  
Zack let out that incredibly cute little half-giggle again, and, chin on one hand, said:  
  
“Still...I’d like to hear more about _you_ , Beautiful.”  
  
And in a turn that even Sephiroth could have predicted, Genesis lit up like a Christmas tree.  


**Notes for the Chapter:**

> All of Zack's nerdy references and inferences are, to the best of my knowledge, accurate. But in specific:
> 
> * _[Snow Crash](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Snow_Crash)_ is weird as hell and your mileage may vary considerably, especially after the main plot starts revealing itself. Much like Zack, though, I adored the prose. Written any other way, it wouldn't work nearly as well ;)
> 
> *I checked: _[The Selfish Gene](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Selfish_Gene)_ was actually first published in 1976, though since an expanded 2nd edition was put out in 1989 Zack may have read that version, or even the more recent 30th Anniversary Edition; this is assuming he's read it directly (he probably has), as opposed to just reading references to the 'memetic/memes' theory (like most people). 
> 
> *Much like Zack, I couldn't remember the guy's name and had trouble Googling it from just "superhero textbook" (because it seems he started a trend), but the guy who Zack thought of who compared Superman to Moses (and won the right to teach comics as Serious Business) is Micheal Uslan; you can read about him in the _Mental Floss_ article ["The Boy Who Saved Batman](http://mentalfloss.com/article/68306/boy-who-saved-batman)" 
> 
> *And on that note: _[The Scarlet Pimpernel](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Scarlet_Pimpernel)_. Read Sir Percy Blakeney's character description and you will see what Zack's talking about.
> 
> *Campbell's _[The Hero with a Thousand Faces](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Hero_with_a_Thousand_Faces)_ popularized both the term and concept of the "monomyth" - and thus is partly responsible for the title of this story ;) 
> 
> * _[The Unwritten](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Unwritten)_ , put out by Vertigo, finished its run in 2015. It's long, but it's utterly amazing and I highly recommend it. (Also Zack's right: Genesis _would_ enjoy this one)

**Author's Note:**

> There is more to this of course, and I’ll be continuing work on it, but this is the portion that is a.) completed to enough of my satisfaction to post and b.) correctly sequential. So this is what ya’ll get so far. Hope you enjoyed it! :)


End file.
